Killercraft
Gallery |status = Defeated by Izetta.}} "Killercraft" was the word for a fighter aircraft used by The Race, a reptilian alien race who invade Earth during World War II in Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series of alternate history novels. The Killercraft is, like most Race weapons technologies, roughly comparable in capabilities to a real-world fighter jet of the 1990s. The aircraft was capable of flying at speeds greater than the speed of sound, and could fly at an altitude high enough to land on Race spaceship, allowing them to operate even in areas where airstrips were unavailable. The Killercraft was armed with 18 air-to-air missiles and at least one radar-controlled cannon for close range armament, and could also be equipped with air-to-ground and even nuclear weapons for ground attack missions. When the Race invaded in 1942, the Killercraft easily destroyed almost the entirety of human air forces with their superior firepower, and were subsequently used in a ground attack role. While the Race held near total air superiority at the start of the war, they suffered from the crucial weakness of being isolated from their homeworld, and unable to replace destroyed craft or expended missiles. As the Race had fought only two conflicts in the last 100,000 years, their aerial tactics were far more primitive than those of humans, and human military forces, the British in particular, developed tactics to defeat them using radar and massed anti-aircraft guns. Battle vs. Izetta (by SPARTAN 119) Outside of Coenenberg, Eylstadt Izetta POV The battlefield was torn apart by shell craters and scattered with destroyed vehicles- antiquated Eylstadtian FT-17s, Germanian Panzers, and even a few of the ultra-advanced tanks operated by the reptilian invaders- the "Lizards" as humans called them. Thousands of corpses, both human and alien littered the field. A few days ago, the Germanian and Eylstadtians, along with practically every other power on Earth made an uneasy alliance in order to unite against the alien invaders that decimated every army on Earth for the past couple weeks. They made their stand at the mountain fortress of Coenenberg, the mountain fortress guarding the main approach to Landsbruck, the Eylstadtian capital. The enemy struck first with a fleet of a high-speed fighters, armed with rockets that seemed to home in on their targets, picking off aircraft, tanks, and artillery or dropping bombs that punched right trough concrete bunkers and exploded within. The the alien ground forces arrived. Anti-tank rifles, 37mm anti-tank guns, and even 75mm howitzer shells simply bounced off their tanks only 105mm and 155mm heavy artillery had any chance of penetrating them. The guns on their tanks packed guns capable of blowing through a Germanian Panzer IV and going out the other end. To make matters worse, they were supported by strange aircraft with no wings, only rotors on top, raining rockets and gunfire from above as their infantry and armor advanced. In spite of the overwhelming odds, the Elystadtian and Germanian forces made a valiant last stand, holding off the alien forces for a day before finally falling. In this time, they managed to destroy a dozen enemy tanks, numerous lighter vehicles, and killed over 500 alien infantry. In the end, however, they Elystadtians were outnumbered and outgunned, and forced to retreat. But Elystadt still had one final ace up their sleeve: Izetta, the second coming of the White Witch, long thought to be a legend, now flew towards the battlefield, riding an anti-tank rifle like the broom of a classic depiction of a witch, flanked by levitated explosive lances and two 250 kg glide bombs. In the valley below, twenty tanks (or "Landcruisers" as the Race called them) and a similar number of APCs rolled across the ruined battlefield, with eight helicopter gunships flying above them. At a range of about a kilometer, Izetta released her explosive lances. The projectiles flew in like the guided missiles used by the Race, embedded themselves in the sides of the helicopters and exploded in a flash of flame. All of the eight helicopters exploded in a flash of fire their remains spiraling into the ground. Then, the two glide bombs flew in, detonating in the midst of the Race Landcruisers, the blast wave blowing off their turrets or, in the case of a few, throwing them through the air. Of the original 40 vehicles, only four tanks and four APCs survived. Izetta dove in, strafing them enemy with her anti-tank rifle. The 20mm rounds did not have the firepower to penetrate the Landcruiser's armor, but she did managed to knock out all four of the armored personnel carriers, as well as kill the turret machine gunner in one of the tanks. Making a second pass, Izetta landed directly on to of one of the alien tanks. The vehicle was instantly levitated by her magic and flew directly at the enemy vehicle. The two tank collided, putting both of them out of action. Finally, Izetta repeated the act a final time, hurling a race Landcruiser into a nearby mountain lake. Teerts POV Far overhead, Teerts, a Race Killercraft pilot heard shouts of panic on the radio. It was as though the ground forces had suddenly gone mad, making insane claims about a single Tosevite (Race term for humans) female flying through the air without an airplane, seemingly riding on a rifle. Then, the radio was filled with explosions, gunfire, and crashing, before contact was lost with the armored forces. Teerts turned down on the flight stick, diving down towards the last known location of the Race unit. As the Killercraft flew low, only a couple hundred meters above the valley floor, Teerts saw a graveyard of Race vehicles, plumes of thick black smoke marking their final resting place. What could have done this- the Tosevite air forces had been destroyed within days of the invasion, and their Race Landcruisers outgunned their tanks so heavily that ten of them were destroyed for each Landcruiser lost. Then he saw it, out of the corner of his eye, Teerts spotted a flash of red and white fly past his canopy. Turning to face it, he saw a sight unlike anything he had ever seen. Flying above the battlefield on what looked like a Tosevite female riding on a large rifle. Her clothing was bright white, and that "head-fur" that Tosevites had was bright red. Surrounding the Tosevite were eight white conical objects. "This is command, Flight leader, report on the status of the ground unit!", A voice stated over the radio as Teerts broke off to rejoin his flight of two other Killercraft "Ground forces are have been eliminated, I have visual on the unknown hostile contact- that flying Tosevite- reported by their final transmission", Teerts replied, "Repeat, I have visual confirmation of the unknown hostile. Awaiting orders, over." "We read you, Flight leader, engage and destroy.", The Race commander replied. As Teerts finished his transmission, he called to his two subordinates, Rolvar and Gefron, on the radio. "Roger, command, Moving in for an attack run now. Rolvar, Gefron, watch my tail!" Teerts dove down on the mysterious flying Tosevite, a buzzer in the cockpit denoting that he had a radar lock on the Tosevite and the cloud of objects surrounding her. He pulled the trigger on the flight stick twice, sending a pair of missiles streaking towards the target. Izetta POV Izetta heard a whooshing sound and turned to see two streaks of fire flying towards her at high speed. "Go forth!", Izetta yelled, ordering her magically controlled explosive lances to fly behind her, into the path of the incoming missiles. About 100 meters behind her, both missiles exploded as they were each hit by two lances. The strange propeller-less alien fighter flew over her head, Izetta launched her remaining four lances towards the enemy aircraft, however, they were far too slow to hit the target, which flew away at incredible speed, flames coming out of the tail. Izetta didn't know it, but her releasing the lances had made it impossible for Rolvar and Gefron's Killercraft to get a missile lock- she was too small a target. Instead, the two other Killercraft flew in, firing bursts bursts from their twin autocannons. Izetta zig-zagged through the air, using her unparalled maneuverability to evade the fire from the fast-moving craft, flying at less than 100 meters below the side of a mountain. Gefron POV An alarm sounded in Gefron's Killercraft, warning him that the aircraft was nearing its stall speed, he had slowed down too much in an attempt to hit the small, slow-moving target with his cannon. Furiously, he pulled back on the throttle, speeding up and overshooting the target. He would have to go around and make another pass. Rolvar, however, was more aggressive and kept moving at slow speed, convinced that, if he held for just another second, he would be able to get off a clear shot and take the flying Tosevite down. At that point, the target suddenly rose upward, the Killercraft overshooting her even at its slow speed. The rifle that was her mount blazed several times. 20mm rounds punched through the fuselage and exploded into a flash of flames. One of the rounds went right through the canopy, reducing Rolvar to a mist of blood and tissue. His Killercraft slammed into the side of the mountain and exploded in a flash of fire. "Shit! Rolvar's down!", Gefron called into the radio. "I'll attack from the left, you come in from the immediately afterwards Try and box her in against the mountains. That damned Tosevite will wish she had never hatched!", Teerts replied, using disregarding how unsuited the reptilian expression was for the mammalian human. Teerts dove in first, firing the twin cannons of his Killercraft. Izetta only narrowly avoided the burst. Yawing his aircraft slightly to the right, Teerts fired again. This time, the flying Tosevite evaded again, but one shell burst about 30 meters to her side. Izetta POV A stray piece of shrapnel struck Izetta, only barely grazing her shoulder, not seriously wounding her. Izetta was now just meters from the mountain side, and the alien fighter was slowing down and going in low for an attack, moving as though strafing a ground target. Thinking quickly, Izetta threw several droplets of blood from the grazing hit on her shoulder into a patch of snow on the mountainside. Immediately, the snow that was struck by the droplet transformed into a spike of ice, which flew at the Killercraft. The ice projectile impacted the air intake of the Killercraft. The engine cut out immediately as shards of ice infiltrated the inner workings. Rolvar POV Far above him, Rolvar saw the flying Tosevite seemingly launch a spike of ice from the snow on the mountains, right into Teerts' Killercraft. The flight leader's aircraft lost all power and collided with the mountains in a flash of flame. Rolvar could not believe what he was seeing, but it was clear that he could not get near that Tosevite, but his radar could not get a missile lock on her. But there was still one way he could hit her, provided the target stayed at low altitude... Rolvar activated the ftaskelkwank (Race Language term for a laser emitter) pod on his aircraft and tapped the trigger with his hand-claw. The Killercraft released a pair of skelkwank (Race term for a laser) guided bombs intended for ground strikes from the weapons bay. Rolvar kept the beam trained as close to the target as possible- If the target stayed close the ground, she would get caught in the blast. Izetta POV Izetta saw the two black dots leave the alien fighter just in time. She flew upwards, away from the impact point. As she did so, she flew right by one of the alien munitions. For less than a second, Izetta reached out and tapped the side of the bomb. It was now under her guidance now. Using her telekinetic magic, Izetta made the bomb turn upwards, right into the path of the Killercraft. She couldn't move it fast enough to give chase, so she moved the bomb into position so they would intersect. Rolvar never realized his own weapon had been turned against him as the bomb collided with his Killercraft. The weapon exploded in a massive fireball, the blast tearing his Killercraft to countless metal fragments. Rolvar's charred carcass fell the ground, along with a rain of flaming fragments as Izetta turned and flew back to the Eylstadtian Capital of Landsbruck. Expert's Opinion Izetta won this battle because of her greater combat experience, maneueverability, and her small size that made her a harder target, making it practically impossible for the Killercraft to get a missile lock on her. Another factor was the fact that the Race, having only fought two battles in 100,000 years, had a less advanced aerial tactics. To see the original battle, weapons and votes, click here. Category:Vehicles